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| Volumes Bookcafe's old storefront | |
Volumes Bookcafe, Chicago, Ill., is moving back to Wicker Park this spring and will open at 1373 N. Milwaukee Ave. just a year after the store's original location in the neighborhood closed. Book Club Chicago reported that Volumes--opened by co-owners Rebecca and Kimberly George in 2016 at 1474 N. Milwaukee Ave.--was shuttered when the sisters chose not to renew their lease, citing "epic losses" during the pandemic and high rent along Wicker Park's Milwaukee Avenue business corridor. Volumes also operates a store at 900 N. Michigan Ave.
Rebecca George said they had remained focused on finding a property to buy in Wicker Park, and their new mortgage payment is less than half of what they were paying in rent at the old storefront, Book Club Chicago wrote. "Volumes partnered with a group of neighborhood residents and supporters to buy the building, and worked with First Women's Bank to secure financing."
The Georges expect to open by May, depending on when new bookshelves arrive. "We don't have to do an insane amount of work. We need to put in new floors, and we need to move in our stuff, but it's insane amount of stuff. It's just those shelves take eight to ten weeks," Rebecca George said. The store is still raising funds through its ongoing GoFundMe to cover renovation and reopening costs.
The bookshop's heart is, and always will be, in Wicker Park, George added. "I've lived here for the most part, most of my adult life, which is longer than people think.... I don't even think of it as us building that bookstore to begin with. The community helped build that, just in spirit and in friendship in coming out and supporting. So if I were to move it, I feel like that'd be a slap in the face... everyone's still invested in us."
On Instagram, Volumes posted: "That's right, we're officially returning... and for good. This time last year we were both celebrating our 5th birthday (March 22) and days later discovered we would have to leave 1474. A little less than a year later, and a big thanks to an incredible group of community members and to the absolute rockstars at the new (and local) @firstwomensbank, we have found our new home at 1373 N Milwaukee. We're excited to be next door neighbors to our pals @recklessrecords and @transittees, who have both been great friends to us over the years. We just need some time to make this our new home, so bear with us another month or two. We want to make this place just as special as the last one."